Garage Manufacturing Grows Up For much of history, manufacturing has been the work of artisans, craftspeople, and trades workers. The products created were made by hand in short runs, and often with customized elements.

Here at Tormach, we consider our machines to be prosumer – meaning, they marry the concerns of cost and quality. Because of this, our products are found at a unique intersection between hobbyists (those that use the machines for fun or at-home projects) and professionals (those who make a business out of machine ownership).

From his Anaheim, California, machine shop, Tormach PCNC 1100 owner and motorcycle enthusiast Brian Carmichael manufactures OMNI-CRUISE, a universal throttle lock/cruise control that he designed to enhance the riding experience for motorcycle enthusiasts around the world.

For Ariel Bolanos, 2013 marks the second year as owner and operator of Boss & Sons, LLC a small family-owned machine shop located in DeForest, Wisconsin. Now in his early 30’s, Ariel’s machining background started at the age of twelve under the instruction of his father Jorge.

Launching the OCULUS Surveillance and Telepresence Robot with a fully-funded Kickstarter campaign, Colin Adamson’s open hardware project recently earned his company, Xaxxon Technologies, a spot in Entrepeneur Magazine’s top 100 Brilliant Companies of 2012. Describing himself as both a maker and a hacker, manufacturing and design projects spanning nearly two decades have led up to this honor.

This is too cool.   If you're into CNC machining, this is great.  If you're into knife making, this is also great.  If you're into both - then it probably doesn't get much better than this :) Introducing Knifemaking Tuesdays John (and Erik) Grimsmo make small-batch production knives and accessories out of their garage in Ontario, Canada, and sell their wares on johngrimsmo.com.